Despite the hiatus, Attack on Titan season 4 likely won't be the show's end. Attack on Titan season 4 premiered in December 2020, confirmed in advance as the show's final season. Given how much manga material remained, wrapping up Eren Yaeger's story inside a single season always felt ambitious and, sure enough, the anime ended differently than the last chapter, with Marley launching a full-scale assault on Paradis Island, airships and all. Fortunately, Attack on Titan season 4 part 2 has been confirmed with a release date of January 9, 2022, and is set to wrap up the remainder of Hajime Isayama's popular manga series — for real, this time.
Except, maybe not. The final issue of the Attack on Titan manga was released in April 2021 to a highly divisive fan reaction. While some fans enjoyed the ambiguous flavor, others were disappointed by the lack of clarity and how certain character arcs played out. Without divulging major spoilers, the Attack on Titan's finale is a conclusive one. Every major storyline is resolved, and the fates of the main (surviving) characters all explained. The ambiguous notes of the final chapter, mostly regarding Eren Yaeger, feel thematic in nature, and clearly aren't intended as any kind of sequel setup.
However, those closing moments will be altered thanks to the confirmed release of unseen additional pages. As explained by Isayama himself, Attack on Titan's final chapter was curtailed by 8-10 pages due to printing restrictions. This extra material will be released via the official final volume in early June, tacked directly onto the end of the original chapter. According to early reports coming out of Japan and on social media, the previously-unreleased panels add new character pairings, reveal a darker fate for the future, and introduce the descendant of a main character. Most significantly, however, the revised chapter explicitly sets up a continuation to the Attack on Titan story, heavily suggesting that either season 5, or a sequel anime, is in the works.
Everything We Know About Attack on Titan Season 5
Once again avoiding major spoilers for anime-only viewers, Attack on Titan season 4, part 2 will explore the full backstory of Ymir Fritz, the Founder, revealing how this enslaved young girl became humanity's very first Titan. In essence, Attack on Titan's new final scene reportedly recreates the moment Ymir Fritz receives the Founding Titan, but in the current timeline with the aforementioned main character descendant. The message in Isayama's new ending is clear — the Attack on Titan curse is going to begin all over again with a brand new generation.
That being said, Isayama himself has indicated in interviews that he has no plans to write more Attack on Titan manga. This means that if the anime were to continue past season 4’s conclusion in January, it would need to adapt different source material, or else start telling its own original story. Given that Attack on Titan has been an incredibly successful property for Kodansha, it’s not out of the question for the studio to continue the franchise in some form. Although the initial chapter release gave no hint as to how that might happen, the new scenes lay a possible path toward future projects that follow broadly the same premise. This could come in the form of Attack on Titan season 5, set after a significant time skip and introducing a completely fresh crop of tragic heroes.
For now, though, there’s been no official announcement that Attack on Titan will have a season 5, with trailers for season 4 part 2 continuing to hold to the “Final Season” heading. Season 4 part 1’s 16 episodes adapted about 24 manga issues, and about 25 issues remain, so the end of Attack on Titan season 4 really will finish adapting the manga in all likelihood. But given how fans have reacted to Attack on Titan's manga ending, a continuation could be viewed as a second chance to pitch the finale a little better and leave fans satisfied. On the other hand, perpetuating the ongoing Titan war might be seen as discrediting the efforts of Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and the rest in the main Attack on Titan timeline. What was the point in it all if history is destined to repeat itself anyway? Any anime sequel announcement will most likely be made in the aftermath of Attack on Titan season 4's finale in January of 2022.